The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department wants to enlist the help of a local minority-owned creative firm to increase diversity in its ranks, but some city councilmen aren’t sure they want to award the contract without first going to bid. Fire officials on Tuesday proposed contracting with Vince Rocha Productions LLC’s vCreative to produce a recruitment campaign for the department.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Toledo Blade

Despite pressure from a contingent of firefighters, the Aspen Fire Protection District Board declined Tuesday to begin formally looking into hiring paid firefighters. “If you ask for a hard decision now, the answer will be no to paid staffing,” board President Karl Adam said. “I am not willing to engage the public when I’m not sure where we’re going with this.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Aspen Times

The Houston Fire Department is trying to find a better way to allocate resources. They gave graduate students from Rice University data on emergency calls and asked them to identify trends. The students did an extensive analysis of 911 calls over the past several years and presented their findings Tuesday to Houston City Council.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KHOU-TV CBS 11 Houston

They’re exhausted. We told you Monday night about the shortage at the federal fire department tasked with keeping Naval Station Great Lakes safe, and how that shortage is affecting surrounding communities. On Tuesday, CBS 2’s Tara Molina took concerns to our elected officials. She learned that members of Congress are also asking the Navy why the shortage, and the issues it is creating, are not being addressed.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBBM-TV CBS 2 Chicago

Today, the City of Fort Atkinson announced an improvement in the Fort Atkinson Fire Department's Insurance Services Office (ISO) Public Protection Classification (PPC) rating. ISO ratings assess the readiness of local fire departments by classifying a community's ability to suppress a fire. Previously, Fort Atkinson Fire Department had a Class 4 rating in the city and 4Y in the township.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 7:30:19 PM - SOURCE: Fort Atkinson, WI

PHOTO: One person had to be rescued and four were treated for smoke inhalation after a fire in a clothes dryer at an apartment building in Fond du Lac Tuesday afternoon. Fond du Lac Fire and Rescue was called to a two-story apartment building on Grand Court just after 3:30 pm for the fire. The dryer was in a common first floor hallway, and firefighters noticed heavy smoke before removing the dryer from the building to minimize the spread of the fire.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 6:36:29 PM - SOURCE: KFIZ

A fire and rescue truck approached a blaze Tuesday at the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, spraying a flaming tray from a safe distance. The fire was part of an airport emergency exercise that involved multiple fire departments in the Chippewa Valley. Nearby, maintenance supervisor Todd Norrell observed his staff go through the mock disaster drill.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 3:41:42 PM - SOURCE: Chippewa Herald

PHOTO: A fire early Tuesday morning in the 2700 block of Red Maple Court destroyed a garage and damaged a home, according to Caledonia Fire Battalion Chief Tim St. Amand. Firefighters responded to the house at 3:50 a.m. Tuesday. The fire was under control within about a half-hour, St. Amand said. “It was a well-involved fire when we arrived,” St.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:46:06 PM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

Firefighters on Tuesday morning, Aug. 13 responded to the scene of a garage fire in the area of Cliffside Drive and Red Maple Court in Racine. The call came in around 4 a.m. When crews arrived on scene, they found a fully-involved garage fire that spread to the house. The homeowner was able to safely evacuate.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 6:48:44 AM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

On August 12, 2 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

The City of Fond du Lac opens it's new Public Safety Training Center on Tuesday afternoon. Action 2 News This Morning took a tour of the center ahead of the opening-- watch the videos above. The facility on North Rolling Meadows Drive will be used by the Fond du Lac Police Department and Fond du Lac Fire/Rescue for exercises that will prepare personnel for emergency situations.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 5:00:31 AM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

Wildfire smoke from the Williams Flats fire, burning on the Colville Indian Reservation, triggered a thunderstorm Thursday, and for one of the only times ever, scientists were able to fly through its clouds, photograph the phenomenon from a jet and take measurements from inside. The phenomenon, called a pyrocumulonimbus or PyroCb, “is essentially a thunderstorm that is created or driven by a wildfire,” said David Peterson, a meteorologist with the Naval Research Laboratory, giddy after Thursday’s flight.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Daily World

An abandoned house on West 13th Street was the site of a fire department demonstration Saturday morning. Envisioning a cool summer night about 10 p.m., the demonstration stated that crews were called to a working structure fire at Reid Avenue and 13th Street. Firefighters were met on the scene by a young man who said his baby was asleep upstairs when the fire broke out in the kitchen at the back of the house.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Chronicle Telegram

ISO, a Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK) business and leading provider of advanced tools and analytics for the property/casualty insurance industry, and Intterra, a leading provider of software for fire departments across the United States, are partnering with the Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA) to explore new ways of analyzing and understanding wildfire risk.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: InsuranceNewsNet

VIDEO: Three of the five youngsters killed in a Sunday-morning fire at a Pennsylvania day care center were the children of a volunteer firefighter who was responding to another call several blocks away. The firefighter, Luther Jones, was with the Lawrence Park Volunteer Fire Department handling other calls while the neighboring Erie Fire Department battled the deadly flames at the Harris Family Day Care.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox News

Firefighters protect our forests and wildlands from destruction. They put their lives at risk to stop blazes before they threaten our communities. Apparel- and gear-maker Filson is celebrating their stories, and we share a few of them here in the series ‘Protectors of the Forest.’ Smokejumpers are specially trained wildland firefighters — and their training is grueling.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: GearJunkie

A rise in emergency calls involving empty watercraft leads Door County first responders and the U.S. Coast Guard to issue a reminder to boat owners. "We've seen a dramatic uptick in that as the lake levels go up, the beaches get smaller, people aren't being as careful about tying boats and things like that," said Fire Chief Chris Hecht with the Sister Bay/Liberty Grove Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 8/12/2019 7:36:20 PM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

On August 11, 8 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On August 7, 6 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department said a 34-year-old man was rescued Sunday morning after his canoe capsized on the Wisconsin River. The man called 911 just before 8:30 a.m. to report he was trapped under the canoe north of Menard Island. It’s near County Rd A in the town of King east of Tomahawk.
- PUB DATE: 8/12/2019 6:45:44 AM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau